A test engineer shows off the robotic suit's flexibility during a demo. YouTube

September 30, 2010

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The video: Defense contractor Raytheon has unveiled an exoskeleton robotic suit seemingly influenced by the Iron Man movies. (See video below.) The XOS2 suit will allow soldiers to lift objects weighing up to 200 pounds several hundred times without tiring and punch through three-inch blocks of wood. Although it looks unwieldy, the suit is sufficiently flexible to let those wearing it climb stairs and ramps, punch a speed bag, and even kick a soccer ball. Raytheon's announcement of the prototype suit coincided with Marvel Studios' release of Iron Man 2 on Blu-Ray and DVD.The reaction: Unlike the Iron Man suit, says W.J. Hennigan in the Los Angeles Times, there are no "repulsor rays in the palms of the XOS2's gloves. Bummer." But that doesn't mean the XOS2 won't end up on the battlefield, says John Herman at Smart Planet. According to Raytheon, soldiers "could be traipsing around inside a personal exoskeleton by 2020 — somewhere around the time when Iron Man VII should be hitting theaters." Watch a demonstration here: